Rear Window at Spark Theater interesting, engaging

Spark Theater is presenting their second show, an adaptation of the Cornell Woolrich 1942 short story, It Had to Be Murder, which was also the basis of the well-known Hitchcock classic film Rear Window. This short play (running about 75 minutes, presented without intermission) builds to a nice intensity, engages the audience, and resolves well.

The story, familiar to many, is of the injured photojournalist L. B. Jeffries, stuck in his apartment with nothing to do but watch his neighbors. In the midst of all the goings-on, he sees things that might suggest a murder has taken place. Unlike the movie, we see only his apartment, and understand what is outside the window through the descriptions by those onstage. This adds an interesting and effective layer of storytelling that coerces the audience into using their own imaginations, adding to the intensity.

Director Michael Emmitt uses the small Spark Theater space to make the audience feel more a part of the action, giving the sense that we are in the apartment with the characters. The intimate staging heightens the intensity somewhat, as does the temperature of the room, which unintentionally brings the audience more directly into the hot summer nights of the play.

Brian Brooks as Jeffries starts low-key and laid back, but as he thinks he sees more clues and formulates his theories, he becomes more intense. As his girlfriend Lisa, Amy Gasparik is earnest and loving, but also effective when turning on the sex appeal. The two are quite comfortable together, appropriate given the length of their relationship. Gasparik also transitions nicely from the stylish fashion maven to a detective wannabe. Linda Suttle is animated and funny as Stella, the nurse, adding some nice comic moments throughout. Mike Pearl is almost stereotypical as Doyle, the hard-boiled detective, but shows some depth as well. Peter Nemenoff covers several remaining roles well, particularly dramatic in his brief appearance as Thorwald.

Since the audience is sitting inside the apartment, there is not much of a set, per se. The furniture is appropriately dated and a bit beat up. The performance space does fit the interior of an apartment, with the window dominating one side. There is no stage lighting, but the use of the existing lights at the end of the show is particularly effective – the space is plunged into darkness, then just as our eyes get used to the lower light, the door opens with a figure starkly backlit creating a dramatic climax. The costumes are mostly reasonable, but Amy’s last costume, while appropriately not high fashion, would have been more believable if it had been a bit nicer, and could have fit better. The ambient sounds are a nice touch as well, giving a sense of what might be heard through the window.

Rear Window is enjoyable and engaging to watch. It is a challenge to avoid comparing this with the well-known film, with leads Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly, unfair though that is. It is also uncomfortably warm in the space, with only a single small AC unit struggling to cool too large a space. But if you can get past the comparisons to the classic film, and if you can wear as little clothing as possible to deal with the temperature (or pick a mild day to go), you will experience a familiar story with some interesting twists, told from a creative perspective.

Rear Window

Rear Window runs through August 14 at Spark Theater, 240 S. Broadway (upstairs) in Denver. Performances are Thursday-Sunday at 8:00 pm. For information and reservations call 303-319-1342 or visit http://sparktheater.org/. Spark Theater continues their inaugural season with Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona, opening in October, then Casual Encounters/Missed Connections and The Three Sisters. Spark Theater is also starting up a regular improv comedy night, is planning a holiday special for December, and is presenting a staged reading of The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant, based on the Fassbinder film, on August 20 at 8:00 pm (Cocktail Chic attire, please).

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